Little Child Lost

Chapter Fourteen

Fire

            Sark stepped inside the apartment, his gun pointed at his father.  He took a quick inventory of the room and immediately leveled his gun on Sydney.  She placed her hands on her hips. 

"Oh, seriously, Sark, are we reverting?"

"I thought you wanted to play the game again."

"The game?"
"At the moment, I'm at a serious advantage over you, considering I have a gun and you do not."

Sydney allowed a small smile to form on her face before she dashed forward and kicked the gun across the room.

"And now you don't, either."

Sark shrugged, showing her sudden move hadn't spooked him at all.  His stance was defensive, just slightly so, but to the point Sydney noticed.  She wondered if it was connected to being in the same room as his father again.  It'd obviously been a long time since he'd seen Lazarey and with all she'd read, he probably wasn't too excited at the prospect of being there.  But heaven forbid he sit this mission out. 

"I'm disappointed you were this easy to catch up with, Sydney."

"Because you prefer the deadly scavenger hunt from before instead of letting it go."

"I have such high expectations for your abilities, this was not one of your shining moments."  Sark pushed on.

"I got your gun away from you, didn't I?"

"Child's play."

"Only in our world."

Sark whipped his arm out as he felt Lazarey move from behind him.  Sydney jumped, realizing she'd let her guard down while bantering with Sark.  She hadn't even noticed Lazarey inching towards the door.  Sark twisted Lazarey's arm, knocked the gun away from him and whirled him around.

"I'm afraid you can't shoot me and disappear, too many questions to be answered."

"What if I have no answers?"

An evil glint appeared in Sark's eyes, something more primal than Lazarey had seen.  And he'd seen quite a bit of evil.

"I would hope you have the answers, because I'm not known for my incredible patience.  I am, however, known for the techniques I have to make you find answers."

Lazarey's eyes widened visibly, but other than that, he showed no signs of distress any longer.  Sydney eyed both wearily and tried to discern any distinguishing features that had passed between father and son.  They didn't really resemble one another.  Lazarey's nose was sharper, his features more severe than his son's.  But their eyes, they were almost the exact shade of the crystal blue of Sark's, the ones Sydney liked so much. She decided that most of Sark's undeniable looks came from his mother.  Sark was aware of Sydney's scrutiny, but before he could mention it, he heard footsteps.  Granted, the footsteps were attempting to be undetectable but they were failing miserably.  Sark's eyes met Sydney's and the unspoken was passed between them.  Sydney grabbed Lazarey's arm, pulling him to the window.  She opened it quietly and pushed him out to the fire escape.  Lazarey began his descent and Sydney followed just as the door burst open.  She recognized the clerk from earlier as he fired the gun at Sark, who ducked it.  He seized Lazarey's lost gun on the floor and hoped it was actually loaded.  He fired twice, hitting the clerk in the hand, then the knee before sprinting to the window.  The clerk was on the ground, groping around the deflected gun, but Sark was too agile.  Sark was down the ladder and around the corner of the dramatic building before the clerk even made it to the window.

            Sark had taken his 'borrowed' Mercedes and forced Sydney and Lazarey into the car.  Sydney sat in the back with Lazarey, watching him, making sure he made no futile, desperate attempts at escaping.  Sark watched them both in his rearview mirror, examining the defiance and fire in Sydney's eyes.  She was almost pouting at having to go with him, but she realized they'd have to work together again.  He didn't try to speak with her.  He didn't particularly want to speak with her.  She'd probably lie to him anyway.  Lazarey finally asked, "Who was that man?"

"The clerk at the front desk.  My bet is Sloane sent him."

"Sloane?  Or Derevko."

Sark nearly swerved into the other lane, but he remained steady.  Sydney's eyes widened as she jerked Lazarey's arm.  "Derevko works for The Covenant?"

Lazarey's eyes betrayed him.  He looked like he was afraid that he'd said too much, but in Sydney's opinion he hadn't said enough.

"Not exactly."

Sydney took a deep breath, trying to find patience and understanding, to no avail.

"What does not exactly mean?"

"It means she doesn't work directly under The Covenant.  She used to.  With Alecksandria and I."

Sark's ears perked up at the mention of Alecksandria.  But he couldn't possibly be talking about his mother.  She was a normal, good woman who was murdered brutally in a candy store.  He'd seen it happen.  He could still see it happen.  Sydney tilted her head, studying Lazarey.
"Alecksandria-like Sark's mother Alecksandria?"

"Yes. That is how I met her. Through The Covenant."

Sark bit his lip so hard it drew blood.  He didn't want to say anything.  He didn't want to let the new information affect him.  He didn't want anyone else to know that it affected him.  He'd always seen his mother, worshipped his mother, in this perfect light.   Lazarey was tainting it and he didn't want to hear anymore.

"And my mother worked for The Covenant, too."

"Yes.  When Derevko's father was the head of it.  The Rambaldi Cult has been around for quite a while, my dear girl."

"Can we wait for this, please, Sydney?  We need to be able to concentrate on what he's telling us and I want to ask him a few questions of my own.  But we need to disappear from Vatican City immediately.  No matter who sent the man after us, they'll find out the man failed.  And they'll send someone after us again unless we get out of here."

Sydney sighed, anxious to learn about her past and Sark's as well.  And she wanted to learn about all the twists and lies that she'd been told once again.  But she knew Sark was right, as much as she hated to admit it.

"All right.  Where are we going?"

"I was thinking that Haiti would be nice."

"Tropical climate."

"Perfect for learning about The Covenant."

Sydney smiled at him, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.  Sark returned the same half-hearted smile as he turned off into an airport.